Claimants’ Charter


by Don Paskini    
11:30 pm - February 26th 2009

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In the Second Reading debate of the Welfare Reform Bill, the Secretary of State James Purnell indicated that he would be prepared to look at the idea of a ‘Claimants’ Charter’, setting out the rights that those claiming state benefits and accessing employment services can expect.

Citizens Advice, the Disability Alliance, Child Poverty Action Group and Gingerbread have put together a draft Claimants’ Charter. I’m posting it for discussion as it is a draft and they welcome comments on it, but also request that if you agree with it, please contact your MP and ask them to support its inclusion into any future legislation on welfare reform (regardless of what you or they think about the rest of the Welfare Reform Bill).

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This draft Claimants’ Charter is intended to represent the first step in the development of a scheme to protect benefit claimants in their dealings with public, private and third sector welfare to work employment services. Additionally, it intends to provide clear criteria against which the performance of such services can be measured beyond simple employment outcomes. It is not intended to replace or remove any statutory powers of review or appeal from benefit claimants.

Key to the effectiveness of the Claimants’ Charter is the existence of an independent Employment Services Ombudsman, responsible for ensuring that the Charter is upheld across Jobcentre Plus and contracted out services. The Ombudsman would not replace existing appeal rights, but would deal with disputes between claimants and Jobcentre Plus, or between claimants and private or third sector providers of welfare to work services. All providers engaged in Government contracts would be required to belong to the scheme

We would expect the Claimants’ Charter to include the following key areas:

1. A copy of the Charter should be given to each claimant at their initial contact with Jobcentre Plus, together with information about the independent Employment Services Ombudsman.

2. Claimants who are not in employment should not expect to live below the poverty line as a consequence of claiming benefits. Jobcentre Plus and providers of contracted out services must work with claimants to maximise their income by ensuring full take-up of benefit entitlements.

3. Claimants must be treated with dignity and respect and not subject to degrading or discriminatory treatment in any of their interactions with Jobcentre Plus and external providers of services, including taking steps to meet disabled people’s needs, even if this requires more favourable treatment as required under the Disability Equality Duty.

4. During the first interview with Jobcentre Plus, claimants must be informed of, and given appropriate and accessible information about, the conditions of their benefit claim as well as the consequences of failing to meet those conditions. This information could be incorporated with that currently given to claimants about requirements to report changes.

5. Claimants can expect to have their claims for benefits, as well as changes of circumstances, dealt with in a timely and accurate manner, with the ability to monitor progress of claims free of any telephone charges. Claimants who have difficulties using the telephone must be entitled to a face to face service.

6. Claimants must have an opportunity to appeal against a decision to reduce their benefit in the form of a sanction and should be clearly advised of this right before a sanction is applied.

7. Claimants are entitled to high-quality, individually tailored support, based on their needs and aspirations, and must be given access to services that will improve their ability to enter good quality, sustainable work, including education, training, condition management programmes, treatment programmes and legal support in instances of employer discrimination.

8. Claimants must be made aware of, and advised on, all of the support for training, childcare, transport and interview costs that they are entitled to receive. Claimants shall not be required to participate in an activity which would otherwise be a condition of benefit entitlement if appropriate childcare, or other reasonable support required to participate is not available, nor if participation would exacerbate health conditions.

9. Claimants should not be required to take part in activities for which it would be reasonable to expect payment, unless they receive compensation for that activity in line with the National Minimum Wage. Activities for which it would not be reasonable to expect payment, except for expenses, include voluntary work, limited periods of work experience, work trials etc.

10. Claimants must be able to access free, independent and appropriate advice in relation to all of the above. The Government has the duty to advise how claimants can access independent advice.

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About the author
Don Paskini is deputy-editor of LC. He also blogs at donpaskini. He is on twitter as @donpaskini
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Story Filed Under: Blog ,Economy ,Equality ,Westminster


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Reader comments


1. Shatterface

Good luck getting face to face interviews for those who have difficulties using the phone: the entire point of contact centres is so that they can ultimately contract those jobs out overseas.

As to the rest, no arguements here other than the use of the outdated term ‘claimant’, which defines customers entirely in terms of what they TAKE from the system rather than as active participants with their own responsibilities.

Its one step up from calling them ‘scroungers’.

Jobseeker, while obviously not universally applicable, is at least active (and much better than the godawful ‘customer’ too)

2. Shatterface

Incidentally, work trials are effective but voluntary, and those who do such work should receive the going rate for the job even if that wage is paid (temporarily) by the jobcentre instead of the employer: it shouldn’t be just about giving people a taste of work, it should be about giving them a taste of the financial rewards associated with work.

People who have been in paid employment are far less likely to settle for benefits afterwards.

3. Will Rhodes

it shouldn’t be just about giving people a taste of work, it should be about giving them a taste of the financial rewards associated with work.

Superb point!

4. Mike Killingworth

[1] I think the term you’re searching for is “service user”.

You really sum it up when you say the entire point of contact centres is so that they can ultimately contract those jobs out overseas. We live in a country that finds it too expensive to pay its own citizens to help their fellow-citizens find work! And people still wonder why I postulate a doomsday scenario in which our living standards are about to fall off a cliff.

5. Alisdair Cameron

A decent charter. Somehow, I don’t think it chimes with Mr Purnell’s thinking (nor with the Tories for that matter), as it doesn’t allow enough scapegoating of the unemployed, the disables, and the vulnerable.
If the welfare bill gets delayed at all in its passage, though, the odds of such a charter as outlined above being incorporated improve: as more and more of the middle classses and white-collar workers are forced by redundancy to use the welfare and benefits system, there will be much greater pressure put upon the chattering class politicos like Purnell, as unemployment strikes nearer home, and perhaps enters into their social circles.I think that it won’t be on grounds of principle or fairness that the Bill may founder or be watered down, but plain plain political expediency as the pool of those who’d be adversely affected by it widens to include those previously smug and dismissive of welfare claimants. Also, in some ways it’s almost good that both Purnell and the Tories’ unfair and demonising/bullying tack on welfare was so heavily dictated by that ignoramus, David Freud- his banking background helps those of us heavily opposed to the measures, as it assists in discrediting his woeful suggestions and emphasises his(and the Bill’s) detachment from reality

6. redpesto

In the Second Reading debate of the Welfare Reform Bill, the Secretary of State James Purnell indicated that he would be prepared to look at the idea of a ‘Claimants’ Charter’, setting out the rights that those claiming state benefits and accessing employment services can expect.

He might look at it, but then he’ll go: ‘Nah, can’t be arsed’. Either that, or it’ll be a pretty short charter if Purnell has his way with it.

That said, it’s a decent enough list. I’d add:

- No claimant should be expected to take up unreasonable offers of work, training or pay compared to their status as a benefit claimant (i.e. to stop ‘claimant advisers’ stuffing people into jobs which will leave them worse off)

7. Alisdair Cameron

@ Mike (4)

people still wonder why I postulate a doomsday scenario in which our living standards are about to fall off a cliff

My vision is of someone running over a cliff-edge as in a cartoon, and staying suspended, legs still pumping away, oblivious to the plummet below, until they look down, then ker-splat.
That’s our political classes at the moment (well, the vast majority…some exceptions): suspended, not looking down, but about to fall, and taking the whole damn country with them into the abyss


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  1. Liberal Conspiracy

    New blog post: Claimants’ Charter http://tinyurl.com/bwz2vu





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